Help End Prison Gerrymandering Prison gerrymandering funnels political power away from urban communities to legislators who have prisons in their (often white, rural) districts. More than two decades ago, the Prison Policy Initiative put numbers on the problem and sparked the movement to end prison gerrymandering.

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Beauregard Parish, Louisiana

According to the 2000 Census, Beauregard Parish, Louisiana has a population of 32,986 people. Of those, 27,790 (84%) are White, 4,261 (13%) are Black, and 468 (1%) are Latino[1]. However, 883 (or 3% of the 32,986 people) are not residents by choice but are people in prison.

Even though prisoners cannot participate in the local community, the Census Bureau nevertheless counts them as residents of the county where they are incarcerated.

A more accurate description would not include the prisoners. This would give Beauregard Parish a population of 32,103 with a demographic that is 85% White, 12% Black, and 1% Latino.

Reported in
Census 2000		 Incarcerated
population		 Actual
population
Total 32,986 883 32,103
White 27,790 417 27,373
Black 4,261 407 3,854
Latino 468 25 443


Notes:

[1]The numbers for Whites, Blacks and Latinos may not add up to the total number because we have not included racial groups other than Whites and Blacks and because the Census Bureau considers "Latino" to be an ethnicity, not a race. Most of the people reported as being Latino are also counted as being White or Black.



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